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“Our CAT generator was returned to Cwrt Cottage and re-installed, now it is beavering away again every weekend and more keeping the lights on in the cottage – and the kettle, toasters, pumps, heating, immersion heater and the rest. All thanks to the generosity of Energyst and its enthusiastic staff – thank you from me and many hundreds of cottage users!”

Brian Gwynn, Cwrt Adventure Trust

Cwrt Cottage is an isolated outward bound adventure cottage situated in the heart of the Rhinog Mountains in Snowdonia, Wales.

It was acquired as a rundown, roofless, windowless and door less wreck of an old shepherd’s cottage in 1964 for the princely sum of £100. The new owners were a group of enthusiastic young men who loved the mountains and wanted somewhere to take underprivileged City children and young adults for healthy outdoor mountain pastimes. The cottage was renovated over many years at minimal costs using the DIY skills of the owners and users. I was one of the scouts who was introduced to Cwrt Cottage at the age of 11 and well remember clambering over roof timbers where I was taught how to lay Welsh slate – thus rebuilding a new roof.

The cottage has no services being situated about 6 miles from a tarmac road and having only one isolated neighbouring cottage about a mile away - it is truly in the sticks!

In the 1970’s we installed a septic tank and water closet toilets – such an improvement from the chemical camping loos we had to use up to then. Water came out of the adjacent stream and needed boiling before use, heating from a large wood burning oven and more recently from a solid fuel boiler and radiators.

Despite all this rough living the cottage was used by Scouts, Guides, Boys brigades, youth organisations and schools for most weekends of the year and some weeks for adventure activities. Many, now quite elderly adults remind me about the memorable adventures they encountered as children at Cwrt Cottage.

The most difficult service to install was electricity.

Brian Gwynn of the Cwrt Adventure Trust explains: “Estimates for a national grid installation started at £50,000 in the 1980’s and were simply not affordable. The advent of small petrol engine generators in the same decade helped a little but their power output of around 1 kVA meant we could run some lighting, but not electric kettles, toasters or even a pump to lift water from the mountain stream. Larger generators were just unaffordable. Not to be outdone I contacted a friend of a friend in Staffordshire who worked for Finning’s – that was in 1990. Having heard our story, Finning’s – now Energyst – found me an Olympus 13 kVA generator which they mounted on a brand new rolling chassis and donated to Cwrt Adventure Trust. This was powered by a Lister Petter Diesel engine and changed our fortunes overnight. Suddenly exhausted teenagers returning from a Duke of Edinburgh expedition, frequently at 02:00h in the morning could have dozens of slices of toast within seconds. Water was freely available on tap as the pump could now lift it into the storage tanks, and there was even an immersion heater!”

“I am forever grateful to Energyst, who gave us our generator for no cost, supplied me with engine consumables for years and even offered to service the engine for us for free.”

Brian Gwynn

Cwrt Adventure Trust

That was 15 years ago.

Brian Gwynn continues: “The generator has run regularly and frequently daily since that time, providing an excess of power at any time. Inevitably as time went on the engine began to wear and leak oil, such that over this last winter I returned the generator to my home in Staffordshire and rebuild the engine, replacing bearings, oil seals and some broken parts. Engine parts were easily available, but specialist electronic generator components less easy – back I went to Energyst and was introduced to Phillip Davies. What a helpful man – within hours he had sent a technician to my house to help sort a complicated electronic problem – and within two days, having identified the faulty component a new printed circuit board appeared in my post – when fitted the whole rig was back to full working order. On Easter Saturday 2015 the CAT generator was returned to Cwrt Cottage and re-installed, now it is beavering away again every weekend and more keeping the lights on in Cwrt cottage – and the kettle, toasters, pumps, heating, immersion heater and the rest. All thanks to the generosity of Energyst and its enthusiastic staff – thank you from me and many hundreds of cottage users!”

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